Present Kitchens
Following the kitchen history, each person was asked to think about their present kitchen, how well it suited their abilities and needs, and any coping strategies they adopted to overcome problems in using it.
Many problems related to reaching and bending:
• Wall cupboard shelves too high.
• Corner cupboards hard to reach into.
• Difficulties cleaning cupboard tops.
• Window handles hard to reach.
• Sinks and worktops at an inconvenient height.
• Awkward bending to use appliances.
People often coped by using stools, steps, and raised surfaces or by crouching on the floor. A kitchen better designed for their needs would have helped with some of these problems.
Kitchen lighting for particular tasks was often poor and below the recommended lighting levels. Again people made their own adaptations such as installing table lamps or stick-on LED lights to illuminate surfaces.
(More information was gathered on other aspects such as space saving, flooring, recycling, laundry, etc.)
Many problems related to reaching and bending:
• Wall cupboard shelves too high.
• Corner cupboards hard to reach into.
• Difficulties cleaning cupboard tops.
• Window handles hard to reach.
• Sinks and worktops at an inconvenient height.
• Awkward bending to use appliances.
People often coped by using stools, steps, and raised surfaces or by crouching on the floor. A kitchen better designed for their needs would have helped with some of these problems.
Kitchen lighting for particular tasks was often poor and below the recommended lighting levels. Again people made their own adaptations such as installing table lamps or stick-on LED lights to illuminate surfaces.
(More information was gathered on other aspects such as space saving, flooring, recycling, laundry, etc.)